Cairo University (Arabic: جامعة القاهرة‎, previously Egyptian University and later Fuad University) is a public university located in Giza, Egypt. The university was founded on December 21, 1908, as the result of an effort to establish a national center for educational thought. Several constituent colleges preceded the establishment of the university including the College of Engineering (كلية الهندسة) in 1816, which was shut down by the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan, Sa'id Pasha in 1854. Cairo University was founded as a European-inspired civil university, in contrast to the religious university of al-Azhar, and became the prime indigenous model for other state universities in the region. Cairo University includes a School of Law and a School of Medicine. The Medical School, also known as Kasr Alaini (القصر العيني, Qasr-el-'Ayni), was one of the first medical schools in Africa and the Middle East. Its first building was donated by Alaini Pasha. It has since undergone extensive expansion. The first president of Cairo University, then known as the Egyptian University, was Professor Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed.